Filing device

ABSTRACT

A file tray is provided with a medially disposed longitudinal slot having a centrally located enlarged recess laterally communicating with the slot and by means of which a compressor plate provided with a mounting shoe is attached to the tray.

United States Patent [191 Textoris {54] FILING DEVICE [75] Inventor: Melvin A. Textoris, Struthers,-Ohio [73] Assignee: The General Fireproofing Company, Youngstown, Ohio [22] Filed: June 30, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 121,853

[52] U.S. Cl ..220/22.3 [51] Int. Cl. ..B65d 25/06 [58] Field of Search ..220/22.l, 22.2, 22.3, 220/224, 22.5, 22.6

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Lehman v.220/22.5

[ 1 May 15, 1973 1,058,236 4/1913 Hawkins .Q ..220/22.5 1,325,537 12/1919 Ringler ..220/22.3 3,375,830 4/1968 ..220/22.3 1,954,224 4/1934 ..220/22.3 1,776,678 9/1930 Carlson ..220/22.5

Primary Examiner-George E. Lowrance Attorney-Emory L. Groff, et a]. H

[57] ABSTRACT A file tray is provided with a medially disposed longitudinal slot having a centrally located enlarged recess laterally communicating with the slot and by means of which a compressor plate provided with a mounting shoe is attached to the tray.

8 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTE m1 51975 SHEU 1 OF 2 DIVE? -TOR Z V/IY A TEXTaE ()RNFEY FILING DEVICE This invention relates generally to office appliances and more particularly to a filing device adapted to be mounted within a desk or filing cabinet drawer and includes a tray provided with a follower or compressor having unique means for permitting attachment and removal thereof within the tray.

Many types of removable compressor plates have been known and the function of these elements will be readily acknowledge by those skilled in the art. The present device provides a unique structure permitting the ready attachment and removal of the compressor from the bottom wall of a filing tray without the necessity of employing any separate fastening elements or tools.

The present follower may be utilized in combination with any suitable type of file container although this invention contemplates combining the follower with a specially constructed cross-tray itself adapted to be removably mounted transversely of an existing desk or filing cabinet drawer without the need of any fastener member. The utility of such an arrangement will be well understood since a user of an office desk, for example, often requires storage means for properly retaining and making accessible index cards for example which would be most readily useable when stored with the faces of the thus contained cards directed toward the user when the desk drawer is withdrawn from the pedestal of the desk and the user is seated at the normal position adjacent the sidewall of the withdrawn drawer.

Accordingly, one of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide an improved filing device including a compressoror follower plate having integral means permitting of the ready attachment and removal thereof from the bottom wall of a filing tray.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved filing device including a tray having a removable compressor plate including a shoe element engageable within a longitudinal slot provided in the bottom wall of the tray.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved filing tray having a bottom wall including a narrow longitudinal slot formed with an enlarged opening in the medial portion thereof for the attachment and removal ofa compressor plate having a pair of diverging attaching feet insertable through the opening by a special manipulation of the plate.

With these and other objects in view which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists in the novel construction combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of the filing device of the present invention with the compressor as it appears prior to attachment to the tray.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevation, partly in section, and illustrates the compressor in the mounted position while indicating the alternate position of the compressor actuating lever in broken lines.

FlG. 3 is a partial top plan view of the filing tray and illustrates the specially constructed attaching slot formed in the bottom wall thereof.

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial perspective view illustrating the unique compressor attaching shoe.

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view and illustrates the bottom corner construction of a modified filing tray.

FIGS. 7-9 are fragmentary top plan views illustrating the sequence of movements as employed to attach or remove the compressor plate from the filing tray bot tom wall.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly FIG. 1, the present invention will be seen to relate to a filing tray generally designated 1 and which includes vertically spaced apart side walls 2 and end walls 3 extending upwardly from a common bottom wall 4. The specific construction of the tray itself is not so critical as is the arrangement which is provided to permit the attachment or removal of the unique compressor or follower which is generally designated 5. This compressor includes the usual vertical plate 6,. the lateral extent of which is slightly less than the transverse internal dimension defined by the two spaced apart side walls 2 while the vertical height of this plate may be any suitable dimension usually intermediate the height of the side walls 2 and end walls 3.

Extending from the rear 7 of the: plate 6 are a pair of spaced apart mounting elements 8-8 between which is disposed a compressor actuating lever generally designated 9 and which will be seen, particularly from the view of FIG. 2, to be pivotally attached to the mounting elements 8-8 by means of a pivot pin 10. The actuating lever 9 is provided with an upper finger arm 11 which is preferably angled away from the rear 7 of the compressor plate. The lower portion of the actuating lever on the other hand includes a locking nose 12 which provides a somewhat sharp edge for precluding longitudinal displacement of the plate 6 when urged against the upper surface of the tray bottom wall 4. This biasing is insured by means of the locking spring 13 which constantly bears against the upper portion of the actuating lever in order to cause pivoting of the lever about the pin 10 thereby encouraging the lever locking nose 12 to bite into the surface of the bottom wall 4.

The unique attaching means for the compressor 5 includes a compressor shoe generally designated 14 and which from FIG. 5 will be seen to include a pair of mounting tabs l5-l5 secured to the rear 7 of the plate 6 adjacent to the bottom edge 16 of this plate. Extending rearwardly from the mounting tabs l5-l5 are a pair of adjacent vertical webs 17 disposed normal to the plane of the plate rear 7 and from which project, at the bottom thereof, a pair of outwardly extending lateral feet l8-l8. To be noted at this point is the existence of a significant clearance 19 formed between the bottom edge 16 of the plate and the upper surface of the lateral feet 18 which clearance extends in a horizontal plane from the vertical web 17 towards the lateral edges of the compressor plate 6. As will be readily appreciated hereinafter the vertical height of this horizontal clearance 19 is no less than the thickness of the material comprising the bottom wall 4 of the filing tray 1.

The bottom wall of the filing tray is modified in a manner to cooperatewith the above-described compressor shoe 14 so that the compressor 5 may be quickly attached to or removed from the filing tray 6.

As shown in FIG. 3 the bottom wall 4 is provided with a longitudinally extending compressor attaching and guiding slot 20 which is medially disposed with respect to the tray side walls 22 and which extends at its ends to points just short of the tray end walls 3-3. The width of the attaching slot 20 is only slightly greater than the combined widths of the vertical webs 17--17 of the compressor shoe 14 so that when the compressor is mounted as in FIG. 2 it will be unimpeded during adjustment thereof when the actuating lever 9 is engaged.

The manner of attaching and removing the compressor will be most readily understood by a review of FIG. 7-9 of the drawings. Located intermediate of the ends of the slot 20 is an enlarged attachment recess 21 which will be seen to comprise an opening formed adjacent.

one side edge of the slot 20 and which includes a lateral edge 22 extending outwardly and perpendicular to the axis of the slot 20. This edge 22 intersects an angled recess edge 23 such that an opening or recess 21 is provided which defines a right triangular configuration. In order to initially attach the compressor to the filing tray 1, a first one of the lateral feet 18 is inserted through the slot underneath the material of the tray bottom wall section 4a which is adjacent the side of'the slot containing the attachment recess 21 so that the device will appear as in FIG. 7 of the drawings. This attachment is readily achieved due to the inherent flexibility of the relatively thin material of the bottom wall 4 which permits either section 40 or 4b of the bottom wall to be readily displaced or deflected vertically with respect to the other section merely by manual pressure thereupon. In other words, by pressing downwardly upon the bottom wall section 4b, the first foot 18 of the shoe 14 may be slipped underneath the section 4a to the position of FIG. 7.

The compressor 5 is then moved in the direction of the arrows of FIG. 7 to a point opposite the attachment recess 21 until the rear vertical edge 17a clears the side of the slot 20 intersecting the angled edge 23. This permits the entire compressor to be rotated counterclockwise to the position as shown in FIG. 8 at which point it will be noted that the rear edge 18a of the lateral foot 18 will be parallel to the angled edge 23 of the recess 21. Since the first foot 18 is already beneath one section 4a of the bottom wall 4 it will follow that continued counter-clockwise movement of the compressor shoe will only be possible if the second foot 18 is moved into a position beneath the same section 40 of the bottom wall 4. This is readily accomplished merely by pressing downwardly on the compressor whereby this downward force will cause the second lateral foot 18 to press the second bottom wall section 4b downwardly below the horizontal plane of the first bottom wall section 4a whereupon continued rotation of the compressor will move the second lateral foot 18 to the position as shown in FIG. 9 whereupon both lateral feet 18 will be seen to be disposed beneath the bottom wall 4. At this stage the compressor plate itself is disposed parallel to the longitudinal slot 20 and it is necessary to continue the counter-clockwise rotation of the compressor as additional 90 to position the assembly as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 of the drawings whereupon it is ready for subsequent normal use.

With the compressor mounted as above described, it will be understood that this element may be subsequently positioned by the user at any point within the file tray 1 by utilizing the actuating lever 9 to release the lower locking nose 12 to the broken-line position of FIG. 2 thereby releasing the clamping effect of the lateral feet 18 upon the undersurface of the bottom wall 4 so that the vertical web 17 may be freely moved in either direction within the slot 20. It will be appreciated that alternate forms of the attachment recess 21 may be utilized without departing from the spirit of the present invention. The right triangular shape as shown in the drawings is most appropriate since it involves a minimum removal of material from the section 4a of the bottom wall. Preferably the distance between the distal positions of the edges 22 and 23 is less than the width of the web 17 or feet 18 so that as the compressor is moved past the recess 21 the probability of any jamming of the shoe 14 is minimized. Quite obviously, the recess 21 must provide sufficient lateral clearance to allow the above described rotation of the compressor shoe during installation or removal of the assembly. Accordingly, the distance defined by a line perpendicular to the angled edge 23 and extending to the far edge of the slot 20 must be at least equal to the width of the shoe vertical web 17 to permit the movement as illustrated in FIG. 8 of the drawings. The described manner of installing the compressor assembly may be varied by rotating the shoe assembly in the reverse direction, that is in a clockwise manner as opposed to the illustrated counter-clockwise direction. Likewise, instead of rotating the compressor 180 during installation or removal, it may quite obviously be rotated to the position of FIG. 9 and thereafter, with both feet 18 below the plane of the two bottom wall sections 4a and 4b, rotated back 90 to the starting position.

In using the present invention in combination with a filing tray adapted to be cradled within a desk or cabinet drawer, it will be apparent that sufficient clearance must be provided to permit the uninhibited movement of the lateral feet 18 beneath the bottom wall 4 of the tray and the drawer bottom wall particularly when the depth of the tray 1 is such as to place its bottom wall juxtaposed the bottom wall of the drawer. Such clearance 24 will be seen to be present in the view of FIG. 2 and is insured by means of the bottom flanges 25 on each of the end walls 3 upon which the tray bottom wall 4 is disposed. Even if the filing tray 1 is utilized by resting these bottom flanges 25 directly upon the supporting surface defined by the drawer wall 29, it will be seen that the clearance 24 will be maintained so that the compressor 5 may be subsequently operated. The usual utilization of the invention will be in combination with the cabinet or desk drawer generally designated D, wherein the tray 1 is attached by mounting it between the side walls 26 and 26 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The tray is preferably supported in this manner by means of outwardly directed hanging flanges 27-27 provided on the upper portions of the tray end walls 3, which flanges are adapted to rest upon the top edges 28 of the draw side walls 26. The configuration of the filing tray may be constructed to position the bottom flanges 25 thereof directly adjacent the bottom wall 29 of the drawer as shown in FIG. 2 or the alternative construction may be used as shown -in the modification of FIG. 6 wherein the tray bottom wall 4' will be seen to be elevated with respect to the bottom flange 25 of the end wall 3. In this manner, the present invention may be applied to filing tray construction of any suitable internal dimension selected to accommodate various standard sizes of index cards or other filing material while still being adaptable to be used in combination with a standard sized cabinet or desk and drawer.

From the foregoing it will be seen that an improved filing device is provided having a slidable compressor element including unique means permitting of attachment and removal of the compressor without the need of any separate fasteners or tools.

I claim:

1. A filing apparatus including a tray having a bottom wall provided with a longitudinally extending slot hav ing its distal portions juxtaposed the ends of said bottom wall, a compressor plate adapted to be adjustably positioned along said slot, clamping means on said plate insertable through said slot and longitudinally movable therein to attach said plate to said tray bottom wall, said clamping means including a vertical web extending downwardly below the plane of the bottom of said plate, a foot element projecting laterally from the lower portion of said web, said web having a transverse thickness providing a close sliding fit within said slot and a horizontal length substantially greater than the transverse width of said slot to normally maintain said plate transversely of said slot, said bottom wall including an enlarged recess laterally communicating with said slot, said recess disposed intermediate the distal portions of said slot and having a lateral dimension sufficient to permit rotation of said web 90 within said recess to allow insertion and removal of said foot element through said slot, said recess disposed a sufficient distance from the ends of said bottom wall to permit rotation of said plate 90 within the confines of said bottom wall, and actuating means carried by said plate and normally cooperating with said clamping means to lock said plate to said bottom wall and displaceable to permit selective movement of said plate.

2. A filing apparatus according to claim 1 including, a pair of said foot elements projecting laterally from the lower portion of said web and adapted to overlie said bottom wall on both sides of said slot.

3. A filing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, said actuating means includes a lever pivotally carried by said plate, a locking nose on the bottom of said lever, and spring means urging said lever nose into engagement with the upper surface of said tray bottom wall.

4. A filing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, said tray includes spaced apart side and end walls, said end walls provided with outwardly projecting flanges adjacent their top edges whereby, said tray is adapted to be supported transversely within a tile drawer with said flanges disposed upon the file drawer side walls.

5. A filing apparatus according to claim 4 wherein, said bottom wall is substantially elevated from the bottom of said tray end walls.

6. A filing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, said foot element is disposed at a distance below the bottom of said plate an amount only slightly greater than the thickness of said tray bottom wall.

7. A filing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, said recess is triangular in configuration.

8. A filing apparatus according to claim 7 wherein, said recess is defined by a lateral edge disposed normal to said slot and an angled edge inclined with respect to said slot. 

1. A filing apparatus including a tray having a bottom wall provided with a longitudinally extending slot having its distal portions juxtaposed the ends of said bottom wall, a compressor plate adapted to be adjustably positioned along said slot, clamping means on said plate insertable through said slot and longitudinally movable therein to attach said plate to said tray bottom wall, said clamping means including a vertical web extending downwardly below the plane of the bottom of said plate, a foot element projecting laterally from the lower portion of said web, said web having a transverse thickness providing a close sliding fit withiN said slot and a horizontal length substantially greater than the transverse width of said slot to normally maintain said plate transversely of said slot, said bottom wall including an enlarged recess laterally communicating with said slot, said recess disposed intermediate the distal portions of said slot and having a lateral dimension sufficient to permit rotation of said web 90* within said recess to allow insertion and removal of said foot element through said slot, said recess disposed a sufficient distance from the ends of said bottom wall to permit rotation of said plate 90* within the confines of said bottom wall, and actuating means carried by said plate and normally cooperating with said clamping means to lock said plate to said bottom wall and displaceable to permit selective movement of said plate.
 2. A filing apparatus according to claim 1 including, a pair of said foot elements projecting laterally from the lower portion of said web and adapted to overlie said bottom wall on both sides of said slot.
 3. A filing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, said actuating means includes a lever pivotally carried by said plate, a locking nose on the bottom of said lever, and spring means urging said lever nose into engagement with the upper surface of said tray bottom wall.
 4. A filing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, said tray includes spaced apart side and end walls, said end walls provided with outwardly projecting flanges adjacent their top edges whereby, said tray is adapted to be supported transversely within a file drawer with said flanges disposed upon the file drawer side walls.
 5. A filing apparatus according to claim 4 wherein, said bottom wall is substantially elevated from the bottom of said tray end walls.
 6. A filing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, said foot element is disposed at a distance below the bottom of said plate an amount only slightly greater than the thickness of said tray bottom wall.
 7. A filing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, said recess is triangular in configuration.
 8. A filing apparatus according to claim 7 wherein, said recess is defined by a lateral edge disposed normal to said slot and an angled edge inclined with respect to said slot. 